REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 24 
8,484,000 eggs and were then liberated. The feature of this work to 
be noted is that it is evident the commercial salmon fishery on the 
Penobscot is maintained entirely by artificial propagation, few, if any, 
of the adult fish being able to escape the weirs and reach the natural 
spawning grounds. Most of the eggs taken for the hatchery, after 
being sufficiently developed to bear the journey, the last 18 miles of 
which was made on sleds, were transferred to a substation recently 
established for this purpose at Little Spring Brook, on the upper 
Penobscot River, and the fry were scattered in the east branch of that 
stream. In other words, the distribution, which has heretofore been 
effected by transporting the fry in cars, was made this year practically 
in the form of eggs, the special object of the change being to hatch 
and plant the young fish at points much nearer their natural home in 
the headwaters of the river than is possible when they are hatched at 
Craig Brook. Here the parent fish would undoubtedly have spawned 
had they been able to pass the many devices set for their capture in 
the lower reaches. 
The importance of establishing a subsidiary station on the upper 
Penobscot was regarded as paramount to the operating of the Grand 
Lake Stream station, where eggs of the landlocked salmon are col- 
lected. Asa result, there wasa falling off in the total output of land- 
locked salmon, but the Green Lake station produced a large quantity 
of this valuable species. The demand for landlocked salmon within 
the limits of Maine, where nearly all the eggs are collected, and also 
in other States where this fish has been successfully acclimatized, 
exceeds the supply, and an attempt will be made to increase the output 
during the coming year. 
Although cod propagation was prosecuted vigorously, the results 
were extremely unsatisfactory. The exceedingly cold and stormy 
weather, together with the scarcity of fish from the inshore fisheries, 
ofiset the efforts of the collecting force, and many of the commercial 
fishermen found it not worth while to keep their boats in commission. 
At Woods Hole the collection of eggs of the winter flounder was 
not undertaken at the usual season because the fishing grounds were 
covered with ice. When the ice disappeared, it was found that the 
low water temperatures had retarded the spawning of the fish fora 
month, and the season’s work in this branch was very satisfactory. 
At the end of the season several small lots of pollock eggs were 
received, which produced 1,246,000 fry. 
The following innovation in lobster culture is worthy of note: Asan 
experiment, 7,081 seed lobsters were impounded and retained through- 
out the winter. In the spring, although only 4,748 remained, all of 
these produced eggs except 630. The pound was leased with the idea 
that the Boothbay hatchery would be ready to receive the eggs, but it 
Se”) 
became necessary to transfer the fish-cultural operations to Gloucester 
